Monday, October 19, 2009

Wild Weekends in Second Life

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to travel to the Burning Life Festival in Second Life. Originally I wanted to go to the Opening Ceremonies, but I was in a wireless connection and the lag was terrible, so I rushed off to one of the computer labs to use wired internet. By the time I could get back into Second Life, the fireworks were over. Even though I missed the fireworks, there was still lots of fun to be had.

burning life_001

I teleported myself to the Pop/Soft Rock Party with DJ Iknow Tomorrow. There were probably about twenty or so avatars at this party. As my avatar danced, I noticed someone with a great top hat with fire spewing from the top of it. Since I assumed they were a seasoned Burning Life attendee, I decided to go talk to them. When I got over to the avatar, I soon found out that it was my classmate Cinderella Caffarelli. We chatted about how we were actually having a great time at a Second Life party.

dancing jozi_001

In the party, DJ Iknow Tomorrow played lots of current songs and some rock songs from the 80s. Some of the songs that I remember were numerous songs by ACDC, Hot 'n Cold by Katy Perry, and many other contemporary artists. A little later in the party, the fiercest resident of Second Life, Fierce Soulstar, joined me in the festivities. We decided to test the DJ to see if he would take requests, so we asked DJ Iknow Tomorrow if he could play a favorite of ours called Ice Cream Paint Job by: Dorrough Music. Within two songs he first gave my avatar a shout out and then played our song. With our avatars dancing along, we had no choice but to get up and dance for ourselves.

fierce and jozi_001

One of the main things that I noticed in the party was the great diversity of the avatars. They were all of different races, genders, and sexual orientations. I thought that this diversity of beautiful because it shows the inclusive community that the residents of Second Life have created. I noticed two men dance together and then passionately kiss, and there were two women that were dancing together throughout the entire party. This was so striking because people didn't ridicule them because of the sexuality, but they just accepted them for who they were. Because of a lack of tolerance in real life, some people could really learn a lot about life through Second Life.

synchro_001

I have to say that I never thought that I would have fun in Second Life, especially like I did this weekend. It was great to see all of the avatars dancing and having a good time, but its even better when you have a friend around to share these fun times with. I think that I had as much fun as I did because I had my classmate along for the ride.

drums_001

1 comment:

  1. Interesting experience! DJs are good about playing requests, in my experience. And Cinderella's hat came from me--I've been giving them to all class members I meet at BL.

    A note about the couples you saw. In fact, Linden Lab's terms of service prohibit any type of discrimination. If you were to say something offensive about an avatar's romantic preferences, it's grounds for violating community standards.

    See http://secondlife.com/corporate/cs.php

    Under "Intolerance":

    "The use of derogatory or demeaning language or images in reference to another Resident's race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation is never allowed in Second Life."

    Thus SL tries to be a place without prejudice...but as "The Skin You're In" shows us, it's not always easy to achieve.

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